Swedish Cinemas Launch New Film Rating for Female Representation - Polidicks

[QUOTE]To get an A rating, a movie must pass the so-called [URL="http://www.theguardian.com/science/punctuated-equilibrium/2010/nov/24/2"]Bechdel test,[/URL] which means it must have at least two named female characters who talk to each other about something other than a man. "The entire Lord of the Rings trilogy, all Star Wars movies, The Social Network, Pulp Fiction and all but one of the Harry Potter movies fail this test," said Ellen Tejle, the director of Bio Rio, an art-house cinema in Stockholm's trendy Södermalm district. Bio Rio is one of four Swedish cinemas that launched the new rating last month to draw attention to how few movies pass the Bechdel test. Most filmgoers have reacted positively to the initiative. "For some people it has been an eye-opener," said Tejle. Beliefs about women's roles in society are influenced by the fact that movie watchers rarely see "a female superhero or a female professor or person who makes it through exciting challenges and masters them", Tejle said, noting that the rating doesn't say anything about the quality of the film. "The goal is to see more female stories and perspectives on cinema screens," he added. [/QUOTE] [url]http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/nov/06/swedish-cinemas-bechdel-test-films-gender-bias[/url]

[quote]"The entire Lord of the Rings trilogy, all Star Wars movies, The Social Network, Pulp Fiction and all but one of the Harry Potter movies fail this test"[/quote] most of these movies mostly have male characters anyway, you're not really proving anything with this. I get the point though. Also, most of these movies are based on scripts that are old as hell. Crying about sexism in a script thats 50 years old is obviously a little silly.

[QUOTE=sloppy_joes;42781717]so it's irrelevant? most of these movies mostly have male characters anyway, you're not really proving anything with this.[/QUOTE] better add "completely missing the point" to your resume there

I always find applying this test to media interesting. I agree with this.

[QUOTE=robowurmz;42781768]better add "completely missing the point" to your resume there[/QUOTE] Pulp fiction has 1 named female character (Uma Thurman), The fellowship of the ring has none, 2nd trilogy in the star wars movies only has Leah, etc. I realize what it's trying to do, but a lot of these movies lack in female leads. Is that sexism? Maybe. Maybe it's just how the movie was made. Of all the thousands of famous movies, a few are going to fail various tests like these.

[QUOTE]"it must have at least two named female characters who talk to each other about something other than a man."[/QUOTE] I'm sure most 'chick-flicks' would fail to meet this criteria.

[QUOTE=sloppy_joes;42781818]Pulp fiction has 1 named female character (Uma Thurman), The fellowship of the ring has none, 2nd trilogy in the star wars movies only has Leah, etc. I realize what it's trying to do, but a lot of these movies lack in female leads.[/QUOTE] There was an Elf lady wasn't there? The Elven King's daughter I think? Plus Galadriel in Lothlorien, who gave them boats and cloaks and shit.

Wait, is this that uncommon?

[QUOTE=DaysBefore;42781840]There was an Elf lady wasn't there? The Elven King's daughter I think? Plus Galadriel in Lothlorien, who gave them boats and cloaks and shit.[/QUOTE] [url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fellowship_of_the_Ring#Members_of_the_Fellowship_of_the_Ring[/url]

[QUOTE=sloppy_joes;42781818]Pulp fiction has 1 named female character (Uma Thurman), The fellowship of the ring has none, 2nd trilogy in the star wars movies only has Leah, etc. I realize what it's trying to do, but a lot of these movies lack in female leads. Is that sexism? Maybe. Maybe it's just how the movie was made. Of all the thousands of famous movies, a few are going to fail various tests like these.[/QUOTE] It's far from "a few", though, that's the point.

[QUOTE=sloppy_joes;42781855][url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fellowship_of_the_Ring#Members_of_the_Fellowship_of_the_Ring[/url][/QUOTE] Uh yeah those are the members of the fellowship. There are non-Fellowship characters in the movie dude.

[QUOTE=DaysBefore;42781871]Uh yeah those are the members of the fellowship. There are non-Fellowship characters in the movie dude.[/QUOTE] The point was the main characters are all in the fellowship, you barely see named characters not in the fellowship.

[QUOTE=DaysBefore;42781840]There was an Elf lady wasn't there? The Elven King's daughter I think? Plus Galadriel in Lothlorien, who gave them boats and cloaks and shit.[/QUOTE] They mean main characters. Even she was essentially just turned into a useless love interest in the films. Not that I think the test isn't a crock of shit in more than a couple cases, but yeah fellowship does fail it if you are only counting the main characters. Even if you include side characters they never talk to eachother. As I said, I find tests like this to be jokes. Even if the intentions aren't ridiculous, and that's open to debate, so many completely legitimate non sexist reasons exist that the test has no value. If it is taken seriously it will essentially by definition limit what you can create. I'm sorry, but I find that to be incredibly fucking stupid. I'd rather look for a solution to sexism/perceived sexism in films that doesn't completely crush certain topics.

[QUOTE=sloppy_joes;42781887]The point was the main characters are all in the fellowship, you barely see named characters not in the fellowship.[/QUOTE] Yeah but the test isn't about main characters, it's about named characters. Galadriel in Lothlorien and Arwen who married Aragorn in the third movie, but she was definitely in the first movie

There are usually more women in dramas/comedies though, but they are not as common as action/adventure films when it comes to cinemas, because they lack the cinematic effects that usually is a big part of watching films at cinemas today. I don't know about you, but I don't often spend money to watch something on cinema that I might as well watch at home. I only go to the cinemas when I want to watch something magnificent with nice CGI.

[QUOTE=Zephyrs;42781904]They mean main characters.[/QUOTE] It's just women with names though, not central characters. Unless maybe Arwen was talking about how dreamy Aragorn was in the first movie, it's been ages since I watched it.

We will not be able to justifiably claim to have an equal society until equal representation in the media happens. (token characters don't count)

[QUOTE=sloppy_joes;42781717]most of these movies mostly have male characters anyway, you're not really proving anything with this. I get the point though. Also, most of these movies are based on scripts that are old as hell. Crying about sexism in a script thats 50 years old is obviously a little silly.[/QUOTE] That is like saying the study of antisemitism in Shakespeare isn't valid either.

like anita whatsherface said; "The Bechdel test is not a test for sexism and a movie can pass it and still be horribly sexist".

[QUOTE=DaysBefore;42781840]There was an Elf lady wasn't there? The Elven King's daughter I think? Plus Galadriel in Lothlorien, who gave them boats and cloaks and shit.[/QUOTE] Then you have that girl who shouts "I'm no man" and fucks up the witchking.

I'm sure that movies with a primarily female main cast would also fail an appropriate test. But it is surprising that the few mentioned in the article have so few named female characters. Well, sort of surprising. Male writers focusing on a male cast isn't exactly a surprise.

It is amazing how easy it is to not realize it either. Remember Princess Leia being the only woman in the first three Star Wars movies? I mean, a few others made appearances, and the universe was later expanded to give women a greater role (the head of the rebellion, for example), but the movie was 95% guys.

[QUOTE=thisispain;42782141]like anita whatsherface said; "The Bechdel test is not a test for sexism and a movie can pass it and still be horribly sexist".[/QUOTE] still nice to see some kind of consideration though

The Bechdel Test is such horseshit. I'm sorry, but I don't think you can't just blanket a whole bunch of movies under a negative label for "failing" this test. Don't get me wrong more female representation is great in media and it'd be nice to find a way to encourage that but I think an extremely vague "test" that chastises movies just because they don't have enough of a certain type of character is just silly.

I personally wouldn't care if movies or games had the casts rebalanced. Most stories would go on just fine, regardless of a male or female character(s). Such as replacing Lara Croft with Larry Croft or Samus with Samuel. If the characters are cool and story works, I got no issue with a sausage fest or whatever the female equivalent is.

[QUOTE=Clovernoodle;42782933]The Bechdel Test is such horseshit. I'm sorry, but I don't think you can't just blanket a whole bunch of movies under a negative label for "failing" this test. Don't get me wrong more female representation is great in media and it'd be nice to find a way to encourage that but I think an extremely vague "test" that chastises movies just because they don't have enough of a certain type of character is just silly.[/QUOTE] the test isn't vague and it does encourage female representation though? also it's not supposed to reflect on a film's quality

Yeah, there are a lot of movies that wouldn't pass this test. A real shame that men get almost all of the big important roles. I wonder how in depth these conversations would have to be. Would two unnamed characters talking about the weather satisfy it?

[QUOTE=sloppy_joes;42781818]Pulp fiction has 1 named female character (Uma Thurman), The fellowship of the ring has none, 2nd trilogy in the star wars movies only has Leah, etc. I realize what it's trying to do, but a lot of these movies lack in female leads. Is that sexism? Maybe. Maybe it's just how the movie was made. Of all the thousands of famous movies, a few are going to fail various tests like these.[/QUOTE] like thisispain said, it's not a sexism test, and it's not a quality test either It's just a thing that's kind of interesting

[QUOTE=SamPerson123;42783210]Yeah, there are a lot of movies that wouldn't pass this test. A real shame that men get almost all of the big important roles. I wonder how in depth these conversations would have to be. Would two unnamed characters talking about the weather satisfy it?[/QUOTE] "two named female characters"

Why the fuck does this even exist. Since when was movies is anyway about being equal? It is meant to be someones vision, art. I know it isn't law or anything still just stupid to have it as a necessary criteria. Meh nevermind isn't that big of a deal, a movie analysis experiment of sorts I guess.